The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-03-05
FIRST PERSON SINGULAR.
Modesty Not a Prominent Characteristic
of Some People We Meet.


The letter ''T'' is the boundary OF the |
whole world of sensation and the mirror
wherein are reflected all outside phe-
We live and think and UNDER
stand by its realization, and through its
power of absorption we get glimpse
of the "P' of others. 1t is the Alpha
and Omega of all speculation-the sole
beacon of light in the midst of universal
darkness. In it all nature is focused and
all life represented. "What
the 'T' does not know has no existence
for man." "What the eve does not see
the heart does not crave" and, what
the Il does not know the mind can not
accept are truisms. That which some
organisms feel and believe are nom
existent for others. A person who has
always been blind can have no percep-
ton of color, y deaf person no idea of
harmony. This is the metaphysical
aspect of a." The 'I'' of everyday
life is in some persons the most obiec-
tionable sign-post ever set up in the
highway of life. 1t meets one at every
turn and seems to obstruct the way to
every other domain. What l think and
what | do-where have been and what
| have seen, is the string on which is
sounded the everlasting monochord of
egotism; and it never occurs to these
self-contained harpists that others may
weary of the sameness of their tune
Nor do they think that any one has
known aught of which they themselves
have been ignorant until now. They
discover things which have been public
property for centuries, even to facts of
Greek and Roman history. If they 90
over to Paris for the first time they dis
cover Paris, and give their neighbors
who have lived there for some years tho
benefit of their experiences in the cafes,
and news of the conduct of the crowds
in the streets, and the queue made at
the doors of the theaters. If they take
up new study they instruct the expert
if they have adopted new fad they
convert the hierophant-or it may be set
forth us incontrovertible the superficial
reasons why such and such fact should
be accepted to one who has gene down
to the roots and rejected after profound
examination. These intellectual ego
fists never discriminate. Their ~
dominates their judgment, and what
they hear and learn, if it strikes their
fancy, they hold fast to, sure that their
E1Iti 4
and that they have no need of caution.
The ranks of the superstitious are re-
cruited from those of the intellectual
cyclists, and the people who accept as
gospel every folly afoat are those who
are so sure Of themselves that they take
no precautions against laundering. To
be sure, among the swallowers of quack-
ing ducks are the absolutely simple and
non-egotistical. But their faults folly,
not presumption-want of proper self
assertion-not too much arrogance.
The writer continues: People who
live in their own ''I'' are now prone to
consider themselves sighted, now eager
to accept as supreme honor the COM
monest courtesies. Every thing unusu-
al they take as something done in their
honor, and things which have no kind
of reference to themselves they accept
as their assigned homage. This had
an illustration of sort when Cato the
Younger took the demonstrations of
respect and greeting made by the AM
tiochians as witnesses borne to his own
| deserving. 1t was nothing of the kind.
The-what we should now call-depu-
tation was waiting for Demetrius, POM
peys freedman; and Cato went for
nothing in their eyes. We say this
was an illustration of a sort, for Cato
the younger was by no means an ego
| fist, and the mistake was not unnatural.
And, talking of ancient matters, it was
Plutarch's father who first gave that
most useful advice against egotism in
speech-bidding his famous son always
say 1--WE went"--''we saw''-''we did,
even when his colleague should
chance to be absent; and never to push
forward that obtrusive Il, which some
people seem 10 uHlnk Cn0 HOlc Oh dCllllt-
alton of the universe.
Il" has also become n universal form
of locution. Young girls who travel
are prone to disdain the modesty of the
collective pronoun "we," and from
their conversation it might be CLEANED
that they spend their lives in going
about the world alone and unattended.
it is not nice form of speech, but it
belongs to the intense individualism Of
the times. Self-assertion is the fashion,
but it will pass away if we will wait in
patience. This self-sustained worship
of the 'I'' has received many a hard
knock from poet and philosopher, yet ii
still survives. ''Sic volo, sic jubeo''
stands AS kind of monumental warn.
ing in the way of arrogant speech, and
Il am Sir Oracle, and when | ope my
| lips let no dog BARK is a phrase which
we all know by heart, and of which
many of us have had occasion to make
the application.
| Sir Philin Sidney saws. 'E'Tbern ie